Hacking Expansion packs

[Madridi]

EZ V 3 in 1
256Mbit (32MB) Norflash
128Mbit (16MB) PSRAM
2Mbit (250KB) SRAM memory
includes internal/integrated battery


EZ IV lite Deluxe
384Mbit (48MB) NorFLASH
256Mbit (32MB) PSRAM
8Mbit (1MB) SRAM memory
does not include internal/integrated battery


Ewin expansion
No NorFLASH
256Mbit (32MB) SDRAM
2Mbit (250KB) SRAM memory
includes internal/integrated battery


M3 GBA expansion
??


Questions
1- Can anyone provide info on M3 GBA expansion?
2- Do all of these work with CycloDS, edge & DSTT (CycloDS in particular)
3- Can someone explain "does not include internal/integrated battery" for EZ IV Lite Deluxe?
4- Any other (competing) expansions that might be worth taking a look at? (whether they are GBA expansions, ram expansions or rumble packs)

I would appreciate the help on this.

 

[Bri]

If I'm not mistaken some of the newer eWin expansion carts only have 128Mbit of SDRAM. I'm not sure how you can tell the difference when you buy one though.

ETA: GBA ExpLoader will of course work with nearly any cart and supports the EZ 3in1 and the eWin 2in1 (I'm not sure about the others). The official DSTT menu doesn't load GBA games without a loader. YSMenu for the DSTT will work with the EZ 3in1 and the eWin 2in1 (I'm not sure about the others) without a loader.

-Bri

 

[Anglophile]

I believe the EZ 3-in-1 works with the Cyclo. I know it also works with the r4 as I have used it with mine.

If you're really concerned about compatibility, you can always get a Supercard lite. It fits flush into the slot-2 and runs off of microSD. You can put all your GBA games onto that and it's much faster than loading each time from the expansion card. Of course, you will have 2 microSD cards to deal with, but it's totally up to you.

 

[DanTheManMS]

If he's worried about compatibility, then a slot-2 Supercard would not be a good choice due to its slowdowns in many GBA games. Loading time would be about the same as with any of the slot-2 expansion packs when loading to RAM. Obviously a 32 MB game being flashed to the 3in1's NOR would take forever, but anything 16 MB and under would load quickly into PSRAM.

 

[Madridi]

Thanks for the answers you guys. But I still didnt get the answers I was looking for

@Bri
128MBit of SDRam? sucks they reduced it..
I was planning on ordering one from here
http://www.psxboy.com/782_Ewin-Expansion-P...packaging).html
but I guess you cant tell this is which right??


Any answers to my previous questions? especially 1,2 for cyclods and 3

 

[Urza]

Questions
1- Can anyone provide info on M3 GBA expansion?
If I recall correctly, it has the same specs as the eWin pack.

2- Do all of these work with CycloDS, edge & DSTT (CycloDS in particular)
Yes, with GBA ExpLoader.

QUOTE

4- Any other (competing) expansions that might be worth taking a look at? (whether they are GBA expansions, ram expansions or rumble packs)

No, not really.

 

[Madridi]

Thanks Urza

Appreciate the help everyone

Edit: I mentioned in another thread that I bought the M3 rumble ram pack.. Can I use that for ram and rumble on CycloDS or does it have to be M3 real card?

 

[Bri]

@Bri
128MBit of SDRam? sucks they reduced it..
I was planning on ordering one from here
http://www.psxboy.com/782_Ewin-Expansion-P...packaging).html
but I guess you cant tell this is which right??

I'm not sure if you can tell before you order it (maybe you can e-mail them and ask).

I think you can use GBA ExpLoader to tell which one you have, but I'm not positive. I ordered a white one from psxboy.com about 2 months ago, and GBA ExpLoader says "EXP256K" at the top. But I'm not sure if that means I have the 256Mbit one or not, nor am I sure what the other one says at the top.

Can anyone shed some light on this?

-Bri

 

[Madridi]

Well, I'll be ordering this tomorrow, unless we do get some info before then, I'll let you know when I recieve it (its only around 10 dollars anyways)

 

[Bri]

OK, from the GBA ExpLoader 056 readme file:

1. 256Mbit(32MByte) NORfalsh page size is 1Mbits(128KB)
2. 128Mbit(16MByte) PSRAM page size is 1Mbits(128KB)
3. 4Mbit(512KByte) SRAM page size is 64Kbits(8KB)


1. 384Mbit(48MByte) NORfalsh page size is 1Mbits(128KB)
2. 256Mbit(32MByte) PSRAM page size is 1Mbits(128KB)
3. 8Mbit(1MByte) SRAM page size is 64Kbits(8KB)


1. 256Mbit(32MByte) SDRAM page size is 16Mbits(2MB)
2. 2Mbit(256KByte) SRAM page size is 256Kbits(64KB)
OR
2. 1Mbit(128KByte) SRAM page size is 256Kbits(64KB)

So it looks like I was wrong -- it's the SRAM that they've changed, not the SDRAM.

So presumably "EXP256K" would be the 2Mbit SRAM version.

-Bri

 

[Madridi]

I know what PSRAM and NOR are, can you please explain what SDRAM and SRAM are?

 

[Bri]

I looked this up on Wikipedia because I was interested. Here's a synopsis:

NON-VOLATILE MEMORY

NOR and NAND are two different types of flash memory. Flash memory is a type of non-volatile memory (doesn't require power such as a battery) to retain the memory. NOR has slower write speeds than NAND, but NOR allows random-access for reading whereas NAND allows only page access.

TYPES OF VOLATILE MEMORY

SRAM (static RAM)
DRAM (dynamic RAM)

SRAM and DRAM are two different types of volatile memory (require power such as a battery). DRAM is structurally simpler than SRAM, and therefore more dense. SRAM is more expensive, but faster and less power hungry (especially idle) than DRAM. Due to higher cost and lower density, SRAM is not used for high-capacity, low-cost applications such as the main memory in personal computers.

TYPES OF DRAM

SDRAM (synchronous dynamic RAM) is a synchronous form of DRAM.

PSRAM (pseudostatic RAM) is a type of DRAM. It has built-in refresh and address-control circuitry to make it behave similarly to static RAM (SRAM).

It's not clear to me how SDRAM and PSRAM differ in terms of power consumption, performance, density, and cost. From a different article, it looks like PSRAM uses less power but is slower than SDRAM.

-Bri

 

[Madridi]

>.< ..
this is confusing lol..
I mean, I got what its saying, but I dont understand how that is used DS wise lol

one part was interesting though, is SRAM the reason why 3 in 1 needs battery? if so, how come EZ lite deluxe doesnt?

 

[Bri]

The NOR flash is the only memory that wouldn't require power. I suppose that if the volatile memory was used only when the DS was on, it could draw power from the DS. But unless it has a microSD slot, the save data has to be stored in memory while the DS is off (it can only be saved to the slot1 microSD when the DS is restarted), so if the PSRAM, or SRAM are used for saves, it would need to have a battery.

Are you sure the EZ lite deluxe doesn't have a battery?

-Bri

 

[trikon000]

the EZ4 lite-deluxe does have a battery.

 

[Minox]

the EZ4 lite-deluxe does have a battery.

Yup, but only for SRAM. Not for RTC.

 

[Bri]

I imagine that would be true of all slot2 GBA expansion carts since I think they all use the SRAM for storing the save file.

-Bri

 

[Madridi]

The NOR flash is the only memory that wouldn't require power. I suppose that if the volatile memory was used only when the DS was on, it could draw power from the DS. But unless it has a microSD slot, the save data has to be stored in memory while the DS is off (it can only be saved to the slot1 microSD when the DS is restarted), so if the PSRAM, or SRAM are used for saves, it would need to have a battery.

Are you sure the EZ lite deluxe doesn't have a battery?

-Bri

Well, the EZ4 lite deluxe uses as microSD, so it doesnt uses DS power for save data? As far as I know 3in1 doesnt have a MicroSD slot but reads everything and saves to slot one.. so that doesnt use DS power as well?

EZ lite deluxe, I copied this info from somewhere, it said "does not include internal/integrated battery", so thats wrong?

 

[Minox]

EZ lite deluxe, I copied this info from somewhere, it said "does not include internal/integrated battery", so thats wrong?

They probably mean that it doesn't have a battery for RTC

 

[Madridi]

EZ lite deluxe, I copied this info from somewhere, it said "does not include internal/integrated battery", so thats wrong?

They probably mean that it doesn't have a battery for RTC

.. which is a bad thing?